Maddy ventures beyond the 'Iron Curtain'.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Hello again blog followers!
I apologise for being ao rubbish at updating my blog, hopefully i will remember everything I have done since we last spoke.
I'll make a list!
1)Adventures with chloe in half term.
2)Snow!
3)Out and about! Cafes, bars and what not!
4)Post!
5)School6)Chloe leaving! :(

We had half term a few weeks ago which was cool as we now had time to go and see bits of the city!
It was Halloween on the weekend before the holiday and Pheobe and Katie had a Halloween party. I went as an angel and Chloe went as a pirate. Other people dressed up as monsters and such like thought Flick dressed up as Vitali our translation teacher and Naomi D came as Patrick who is in my class. Very funny!! We then went out to a few bars and chatted to some Russians we met on the way. Me and chloe chatted to one in Belgrade for ages. We think his name was Timon?? No idea! we had to do an all nighter as we had no safe way to get home so we then took a strole down nevskii still in our fancy dress and got the metro to Sennaya and were the first people in Mc Donalds for breakfast. Argh! Felt pretty groggy on the walk home!
The rest of the week we visited the Kunstkamera museum where we saw peter the greats collection of dead babies. Very weird and gross. The next day we went to the hermitage with Halvor which was fun and very very interesting. It is huge!!! And there are loads of really cool peices to look at. Like the Peacock clock which is in Eisenstein's film October about the october revolution. The next day we went to the Leningrad Zoo with Flick which was an odd experience as the zoo was very basic. The polar bears would just pace back and forth over and over again. They looked very bored! On the friday we went to the Peter and Paul fortress which was cool. There we went in the cathedral where the last tsar Nicholas and his family were laid to rest after their remains were found a few years ago. we also went in the political prison and saw where many revolutionaries and then tsarists were imprisoned.
Also St Petersburg has transformed into a freezing winter wonderland! I have never seen so much snow!! And the icicles on the buildings are huge!! And it is soo cold! The cold weather seems to have come on all of a sudden in the last couple of weeks! Crazy! But the cold has given me a cough which is annoying! You have to put a lot of layers on to go outside. Brrr chilly!! it's snowing loads at the moment and they have just managed to scrape off most of the pavements. They also have to push the snow off the roofs incase it gets to heavy. In the big squares there are massive piles of snow where they have cleared it and because it is so cold it doesn't melt. So they are only going to get bigger! The canals have frozen as well which is mental! The park near out house now has an outdoor ice rink. I think all russians are born with hte ability to ice skate as they seem to be able to glide over any icy patch in the street no problem!
Also have been out and about to bars as usual. Chloe and I have a favourite cafe call ed Coffee Club which is decorated like a jazz club. We go there a lot! Half price Bailey's lattes mmmmm! also Ben and Matt had a party last week which was fun. Though drank way to much cheap russian champagne
Chloe has now left though which has broken my heart! Booo! No more mental times with Chlodog! We had a goodbye sesh at Griboedov club for her which was fun! Reggae! Woo!! After we then went to a cafe on Sennaya with david and mike for aaages because it was the only place open at 4 in the morning. They must have thought we were mental. Seemed to drink a million cups of coffee and then felt very sick the next morning! Argh! Was very difficult to get out of the house to coffee club i'm telling you!
Errm what else i got some post of my parents and my nanny and grandad including two advent calendars which i love. They don't have chocolate but it is a cool way to count down the days until home! I had to go the the main post office to pick up the one from mum and dad. Its a really cool building! I hope i get more post soon.
School is fine, not much to complain about there. We have exams soon which is a bit of a bummer but i'm not too worried about them. I'm going to start doing some revision this weekend so I am ready.
Erm i think that is everything.
Will blog some more next weekend! Promise!!
see yaaah!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

argh! Sorry I havn't written for so long! This blog is going to be very long while I try and update you on everything. So I'm going to make a list.
1)New bars and clubs found
2)Parties
3)PLACEBO!!
4)Schoooool stuff

Sooo we've been to a few new places on some nights out. Barbarra which is next to Datcha which is cool cos it's not as stuffy as Datcha and Fidel can get. And you can get these cool alcoholic fruit icy slushy things called barbaritas. We went to this place after we went to Fidel and some pissed girl came in and threw up next to out table. And obviously in Russia, bar staff don't care to much for cleanliness. Errm i also went with my class to a bar called NeBar where we can nice buy one get one free cocktails. Yum yum yum! And then we went to the Cayote Ugly themes bar next store which was soooooo cool and pretty much just what is like in the movie. it was loads of fun. We also went clubbing at a club called Metro which is near where I live after our friends threw a surprise party for Kiia, who is in my class. That was fun though obv drank far to much and also indulged in the alcoholic energy drink to keep myself going. NEVER A GOOD IDEA! Though it was a good night, apart from the music which was mostly bad european house and techno. Oooh yes also saw a major fight outside of Datcha the other week which was a bit scary as bouncers don't really care about stopping them. So we went to a sports bar round the corner to play pool and I stayed at Martha's appartment which is in a really good location on Sennaya Ploshad. Also on Mike's birthday we had a bit of a bender and ended up going to several bars. SPB which is near school is really good and cheap and does student discount on a Tuesday which I found out yesterday. It is a bar but they serve you at your table and then give you the bill at the end. We went there on friday aswell after school and after we went to Carls Jr which is a burger place on Sennaya. Me and Chloe also went there yesterday and got a bit squiffy. We got a big 3l beer thing which has a tap on it so you can pour your own beer and it was only 300 roubles. NICE!
Some Benedict school people have had parties. Katie and Luka live just off the Fontanka. Their flat is well nice and the neighbours didn't complain. George also had a party which was ok, but yet again drank too many cocktails in a can!
Me and Mike went to see Placebo at an arena near Park Pobedy which was AWESOME!!! Soooo good! also very funny to hear the russians trying to sing english. They also went crazy anytime Brian Molko said спасибо! It was a great night apart from the arena not having a bar. Grrr!!!
School is fine. No complaints there. Work isn't too hard and my class is really cool. Having such a small group of people in one place, there is always loads of gossip going round.. It's kinda a bit like being in 6th form. but i'm loving it, it's a nice break from Uni but I am missing Manchester a lot at the moment. i really wish I could go back for the weekend.
Hrmmm
I'll try and update again before the end of the week and update you will stuff i have forgotten this time.
lots of love
xxxxxx

Hey DUDES!!!
Sorry it's been over a week since I last posted but no worries I will update you know! Urrrm basically last week we spent the majority of our time going to school and doing work. Very interesting i'm sure! Untill thursday when our friends from school, Phoebe and Katie had a flat warming party at their new flat near Dostoevskaya/Vladimirskaya Metro. Loads of people from school were there and absolutely loads and loads of Vodka! They told us before we came that it would be stronger than the stuff back home, and it is for sure! And its un believably cheap depending on what brand you're drinking. The Russian way to drink is to shot it and then have something to eat after to take the edge off. An option which many of us took!! I drank a few cocktails in a can which included a vodka+energy drink type mix called JAGUAR! Man, I don't know if it was that but something made me grind my teeth all night! Never again! I felt like I was on a come down all of friday. Friday was a funny day as most people were dead from the night before and didn't come into school. Everyone who did come in was absolutely hanging! However the teachers saw the funny side of it, I'm sure they were laughing at us stupid english kids who think they can come to russia and drink as much vodka as they like. Drinking shit loads of vodka here will definitely give you a far worse hangover than at home. A girl in my class had to run out to be sick. Bad times! Friday night another Benedict scholar had a flat warming party at his flat which is ten mins wlak from school. However, this one was not as hectic as the last as most people were to hungover to make it. Me and Mike went with a couple of beers, i found a Baltika one that was 8% called Baltika number 9 which is the highest percentage Baltika i've found yet. Mike, Naomi and I are trying to get through all the different varieties of drinks by the end of the year. Here is the link to our photos and comments. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/album.php?aid=499303&id=849095787
We spent most of the rest of the weekend chilling out and getting work done. I made a curry yesterday which was nice with some curry paste the last english students bought from back home.
I also made tuna mayo pittas which my family will know is one of my favourite things to eat so i was very happy! :)
Also we really want to have a condiments themed night out, i've already blagged Tabasco. So maybe we'll do that back in Manchester.
I bought a dictionary from Dom Knigi (House of Books) today as well and went for a tea in Datcha.
Errmm think thats all the interesting stuff I have to say....
Till next time!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Hey! Just updating you on what I have been up to since I last spoke. Obviously have been in to the Benedict School to have Russian lessons. All have been pretty ok apart from phonetics which I don't get at all. it seems as if they are over complicating something I thought I could already do pretty well. GRRR! I am not looking forward to that next lesson! We also found some places closer to school to go for coffee/lunch without treking all the way to Nevskii and we found a good music and DVD shop on Senaya Ploshad which is the square down the road from school. Also have been out in the evening a couple more times. We went to meet some state universtiy people at a bar north of Nevskii. We got lost though and ended up down some dodgy dark streets. I'm not sure if we got the wrong instructions or just heard them wrong but we found them eventually. The bar we went to was alright and pretty cheap but nothing really very exciting. You could however buy draught beer in a bottle and take it out onto the street or home to drink it which i'd never seen before. The Night after that we met everyone in a bar which is next to Datcha which i can't remeber the name of. Again very gloomy and scruffy but it had a dance floor and played some decent music. Quite a lot of the music that they played was by British artists. I'm not sure if that was because there was a big gang of us brits there or thats just the music the DJ liked. Anyways, ended getting home at 2pm which made it very difficult to get up for school the next day however, i still made it in.Yesterday we had a bit of a cultural day and went to the Peterhof palace and gardens. To get there we went on the Hydrofoil boat which you can get near the Hermitage. It was however, really expensive which was annoying but still I'm glad i've been on a boat on the Neva now. The Peterhof was really pretty and had lots and lots of fountains. I took a fair few pictures which you will be able to see on Facebook soon. Again there were lots and lots of weddings having their pictures taken. They must go the day after their wedding because it must take them AGES to get round it. Some of the brides looked stunning though we must be in the background of several of their wedding photos because they are everywhere!! To get home we took the bus to Avtovo metro and then got the metro back to the flat. We chilled out in the evening as we were all sooooo tired! Chloe and Mike kept falling asleep on the bus so i'd tried to stay away so we didn't miss out stop! So i tried two new methods of transport yesterday which i'm pretty pleased with. Today I have been doing my homework and not much else exciting. Though Roza made us bilinis with jam for breakfast which was very very yummy!!! Mmm mmm mmm.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Argh! I can't stop giggling. We've been doing impressions of our landlady or babooshka, not in a horrible way though we all love Roza to bits! Today we had our first set lessons at the Benedict school. I think I am in the lowest set but I love it because I already know what we are being taught so I can answer questions confidently for once. I am really pleased! There was another guy who was post a-level in my class which I was pleased about and everyone seems to have different strengths so I am very happy in this class. Today we had translation for an hour and a half and then grammar. Both were not very difficult. I really hope they don't move me up a group. Then we went for lunch near Nevskii and went to see the Bronze Horseman which is a big statue of Peter the Great next to the river. There were at least three wedding parties their all having their photos taken next to it drinking champagne. Ooh also last night me and mike went to meet some friends at a bar next to Datcha called Fidel named after Castro which was similar to Datcha. Just at grimey but a bit more up beat. We had a few beers and some strange, drunk, russian girls were trying to chat up mike for ages in broken english/russian. Very funny. Aparently 'Russia is like Amsterdam at night'. Ha ha ha!
Errrmm also yesterday we showed Rosa a lot of funny you tube clips. One of them was of a russian singer called Edward Hill. You have to look him up! It is such a weird song but she says its normal to have songs with singing but without words. I can't stop singing it!

Well i think thats all! Found out there's a raggae night at the bunker club over the road this month! AWESOME!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Soooo since I last posted we went for a wonder round the city on Saturday (4th) and our landlady showed us how to get to school. We wondered around Nevskii Prospect which is the main street in St PB after meeting some other Russian students at St Issacs cathedral. We went to have more bilinis for our lunch, they are good for something warm, cheap and quick to eat. Then we found a bar that a postgrad recommended called Dacha or Дача which is a really dark and dingy bar but absolutly awesome and very studenty! Pints were 100 roubles which is just over £2. Not bad I'd say! Also that night Roza took us to get mobiles at a shop near the metro, which is down the road from where we live, on Ligovskii Prospect. On Sunday Mike and I bought PLACEBO TICKETS!! Argh!! I'm soo excited!! Cost us about £30-35 which is pretty decent seeing as it's an arena show. Also 65daysofstatic are playing in St PB sometime soon which we are up for going to too. We met up with people in Datcha and then went for Sushi on Nevskii which was very nice but took aaaageeess!! Remeber never get food right no the Nevskii, they are very busy. We have also made friends with a lot of other students from other uni's. Most of them seem to be from Sheffield and are all pretty cool. Also yesterday we had to get matt passport photos for our visa extensions which was a bit of a hassle. But at least it got done.
Today I had to ring up Natwest as they decided to block my card even though I told them I was going to Russia. GRRRR!! Still it's unblocked now so I did managed to pay some of my school fees. Roza took us on the metro which is easy to work out but very very busy. We got to the Benedict School on time and had a talk from the RLUS reps who are looking after us while we're here. They are English students too but they've lived here for years. We had a test which was pretty awefull. I will not be surprised if I am put in the bottom group, still at least it won't be difficult. We then went to help some friends get some phones and went for a cheap but tasty lunch at a fast food place off Nevskii. I had a salad as i'm trying to be healthy! Then we went to Datcha again for a drink before walking home. Though a different route so we could have an explore. So much happens every day, I'm afraid I'm missing out some really good bits! We've got two really cool places that we want to check out. One is an ice bar called Lyod where you are given mittens and cloaks to cope with the -5 degrees temp. Also we found out there is a cafe/live venue/club called Griboedov just over the road from where we live in an old bunker owened by a Russian band. It sounds AWESOME! And on Wednesdays they have a retro soviet disco night which sounds like fun. I'll try and get up some photos i've taken, I keep forgetting my camera so I'll try and get some more of the places I am talking about tomorrow.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Today is my first day living in St Petersburg! And I already have wireless internet which my landlady helped us sort out. It's called Megafon or Мегафон. Our flat is very Russian which is joined on to our hosts flat. You won't be able to understand it untill I show you some pictures. It's so retro and a lot smaller than a flat in England. It's in a classic old Russian building not far from Nevskii Prospect and the metro station and a blini place where we had dinner. It's like a russian Subway but with pancakes! Anyways this will get much more interesting with photos! We are going exploring tomorrow so I'll upload some then.